Refueling vehicles is an ongoing task for drivers. Depending on resources, refueling may be done daily, weekly, or as required by a vehicle for continued travel. If a driver wishes to fill a tank, the refueling may be simple, the driver can merely add fuel until the automatic shutoff on the pump engages.
In some instances, however, the driver may have a limited amount of resources, and may only wish to add fuel to arrive at a destination. Drivers who are familiar with their cars may often know how far, for example, they can get on a half or quarter tank of gas. They may not necessarily have translated this into actual gallons of fuel in their minds, so the fuel pump readout informing a driver that five gallons have been dispensed may not be as useful as the knowledge that the tank is now one half full.
Some attempts have been made to address this. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,287,556 describes a fuel level indicator indicating a fuel level in a vehicle fuel tank and disposed proximate a cap for closing a refueling orifice extending from the fuel tank. The fuel indicator indicates the fuel level in response to a fuel level sender unit disposed in the fuel tank. According to one embodiment, the fuel level sender unit supplies fuel level information to both a dashboard-mounted gauge and the cap-proximate fuel indicator. A switch supplies power to the cap-proximate fuel indicator and the fuel level sender unit, without powering on other watercraft systems.